Empire: Total War Shoutcast #2

This fight features:

Me, as Prussia
vs.

Doodoo Butter

Was a bit static at first, neither side willing to engage; merely exchanging shots on the extreme flanks. But then it hit the fan...

Empire: Total War Shoutcast #1

Recently, E:TW added the new grassy flatlands map. This has significantly increased the number of players looking for a fight.

One of those players was your's truly. This fight features:

Me, as Prussia
vs.
Colonel Williams, as Great Britain

Anatomy of the Con

Bored witless during missions?

Unlucky in lootdrops and ransoms?

Frustrated in your attempts at scamming?

Well fear not, my compatriots, for the Master of the Art of Scamming is about to impart his secrets upon yee favored ones.

Step 1. Gather up a decent number of renamed 'faction' ships. You'll need at least 6 'faction' cruisers and 2 'faction' battleships.

Explanation: The cruisers are for all the small fry who have maybe 1 or 2 hundred mil, but are still stupid enough to fall for your scam. The battleships are for the international playboy types who have deep pockets, there's nothing wrong with having a bunch of 'faction' battleships, just keep it believable. After all, if you have 20 'faction' battleships... that's gonna be hard to explain.

Step 2. Create a believable cover story which:

A: Explains your need for selling this ships now, and at a reduced price

B: Explains your lack of contracts Explanation: Anyone can sell a 'Navy Mega' for it's proper price. But what are the chances that some1 will buy your fake navy mega over a legit one? Slim, probably. You need something to entice more people towards your deal, and hopefully snag that one guy who will believe it.

That thing, for me at least, was a reduced price. Eg, I sell my navy vexors for 50m (not 80-100m) and navy megas for 300m (not 400m). I also make sure to point out the 'normal' price to all my potential customers.

My preferred cover story is that I'm moving to Jita, and stand to make more money than I'm losing in this 'deal'. Also, all my contracts are tied up in couriers.

Step 3. Look at your station guest list, and start convoing 4-5 at a time, proposing your deal and informing any parties of your deal.

Explanation: This very efficiently allows you to reach 100+ people very quickly. Pretty much the only people who talk with you are interested.

Step 4: Reel them in.

Explanation: This takes practice, and an understanding of the minutae of human interaction. You must gain their trust, understand what motivates them to take your deal, and what hinders them in doing so. For the most part, greed and distrust are the motivators and deal killers.

4b. Let them go, if necessary.

Explanation: If they clearly state they are not interested/want a contract etc. Just let them go, play aloof ship dealer who knows he'll have no problem selling stuff. Don't waste five minutes begging them to buy your ship. Often, I've received convos later when they've reconsidered and want to deal. Also, that five minutes you waste on them can be spent on someone more credulous.

5. Profit!

5a. All tears are recorded in chat logs, try and keep them going on particularly big sells, they often create a large amount of delicious tears.

5b. Yesterday, in the span of 35 minutes, I made 2.2 Billion isk. Below is the donor list, as well as selected chat logs.

Amount, in Mil. Name. Eve Time.

850,000,000------- Divad Ebur------14:30

600,000,000------ Goliath Dark------14:14

400,000,000------- Amira Lana------14:31

300,000,000-------- Inferatus-------13:56

50,000,000-------- freelander1------14:02

NOTE: I recommend you use a different story and ship type (vexor, mega) than mine. If only because many people have interacted with me and may thus be onto you (and vice versa). Some systems I recommend: Amarr, Dodixie, Hek.

Apendix A: Chat log of a 850m score:

ME > Hey there

ME > I presume you're interested in my offer?

Divad Ebur > yes i sure am

ME > Righto, I have 2 navy megas, and 5 navy vexors

Divad Ebur > the vexor still avail?

ME > yeppers

Divad Ebur > good deal

Divad Ebur > how about 250 for the 5 vexors? and both megas for 300 each?

ME > Um, sure

I'm stoked, but don't let him know it.

ME > Thats like 850m?

Play carefree dude, don't be piratey and '850m or your life!'. That doesn't work here.

Divad Ebur > 850mill yep

ME > I'll throw them all in whenever you're ready

Put the burden of initiative on him, make him think about what HE has to do, not you (and thus the ships)

Divad Ebur > k

ME > Do you have 850m?

Play hard to satisfy, if he thinks you're afraid of getting scammed by him, he won't be that scared of you.

Divad Ebur > yep. 1.7bil

ME > kk

But don't take 'I'm afraid of scams' too far

ME > There they all are

ME > just waiting on you now m8

ME > 850m

ME > Ready

Divad Ebur > thanks

850m into my pocket.

ME > np

No problem, at all

Divad Ebur > enjoy your afternoon!

ME > I will lawl

Indeed, I will

Apendix B: 600m Score

ME > Hey there

Goliath Dark > o/

Goliath Dark > Megathron Navy Issues.. 300m each hm?

ME > I presume you're interested in my offer? (yeah, 2 of them)

ME > I also have 5 navy vexors

Goliath Dark > i take them if they are navy

Goliath Dark > the mega's

ME > All of them? 0_o

ME > oh, lol kk

ME > There they are, 600m please

ME > Ready

600m into my pocket

Goliath Dark > fuck i dont think^^ busterd lol

Hehe, speed is a good thing too, they don't think if they hurry.

ME > lol

Goliath Dark > now i have to find a idiot

ME > You didnt

ME > Shouldn't take too long

ME > How much have you got left?

Goliath Dark > ^^ Goliath Dark > 93 mio

ME > lol

ME > owch owch owch

Owch owowowow

Apendix C: 400m Score

ME > What would you like to buy?

Amira Lana > all

ME > 2 Navy Megas and 5 Navy vexors?

ME > thats like 850m

Amira Lana > mega and only 2 vexor pleas

Amira Lana > for 400m

ME > Show me the isk then please

Amira Lana > hallo, what this

Amira Lana > you do acontract with 400m

ME > I don't have any contracts

Deflect the inevitable contract request in any reasonable way, it rarely works, but when it does...

Amira Lana > i accipt

300m for the 'navy mega'

ME > Ready when you are

ME > 100m for the two navy vexors

Amira Lana > ok

100m for the 'navy vexors'

ME > tyvm

Amira Lana > cu

Apendix D: Hate mail

I don't even know what the ordering of these are. A victim, Amira Lana (400m), and a few of her buddies mail me with vague threats of police action etc. Enjoy.

2009.08.23 19:44

2009.08.23 14:52

ME

you are a very bad

the ships are not navy ships, only from you the names.

you must giv me the 400 million back.

I give you 24 hour to retern the deal.

if not, then i send a pitition to ccp

hier is your convo opening:

2009.08.22 14:02

Here is my convo pasting.

----------------------------------------------------------

2009.08.23 15:11

hallo ME ,

this is avery very very bad.

and a big swindling, you are not gamer, you are a shark.

it is nat the 250m or 300m loos, what you doing it is not fair.

amira

------------------------------------------------------------

2009.08.23 19:44

2009.08.23 16:01

hi ME

with it I no other ones would walk against you undertakes, I ask you to accept the return contract.

I give you 24 hours for it, then I will write in CCP a Pitition, because of deception.

Also a police announcement is not excluded.

so to make it easier, take back your deceitful trade.

Amira Lana

-------------------------------

2009.08.23 16:32

yours amounted against amira lana

hi ME ,

is ashamed for this action

nevertheless, you are a player and no swindler.

so return Amira Lana her money and take your ships.

We want no problems with you

Jafar Aljabbar

-----------------------------------

2009.08.23 19:45

2009.08.23 17:16

hi ME

this is audacious, audacious amounted.

you give a normal ship a navy name and sell it as a navy ship.

However, this is not clever because CCP has everybody infos and you can get many problems, all that because of 300m

this is a shit

I Accidentally the Blue...

As the warp tunnel collapsed around my Taranis, ste sensors began peering into the depths of the asteroid belt.

It wasn't long before they found a dueling Taranis and Crusader. I instantly set my Taranis for full speed towards the duo. Just before I reached engagement range, the enemy Taranis took a direct hit in the bow, tumbled, and then disintegrated in a fiery explosion.

My Taranis' warp jammer and propulsion webifier were pushed beyond their operational limits, as I expected the Crusader to attempt to flee or hold it's distance.

Surprisingly, the Crusader sat there until I finally reached it and pointed it. It didn't do anything, until my blaster batteries began to pound away at it.

As all interceptor fights are, it was short and brutal, but I managed to land a direct hit on him while in 30% structure myself.

I immediatly pointed the pod, counting on the speed of the attack to prevent the enemy capsuleer from escaping in time. This time, my tackling gear managed to nab the pod.

I initiated a convo with the pilot, in an attempt to honorably ransom this foe. Suddenly, klaxons blared! A Republic Fleet Firetail had just landed! My ship, in it's current state, was useless. I immediately destroyed the pod, and attempted to escape.

But I was too slow, the warp drive was already shut down. My improved senses could already perceive the incoming, killer, blow about to land upon my Taranis. I instantly initiated escape proceedures, so as to avoid the fate of my prior victim. Fortunately, I managed to escape.

I realized that in my haste, I hadn't read the convo with the Crusader pilot, opening..:

[ 2009.08.26 00:41:21 ] Triksterism > We're blue

[ 2009.08.26 00:41:23 ] Triksterism > you fucking douche



Oh shit... he wasn't kidding.

Mind Warfare

This is why I came to WH space.
Me, against the many.
I have little firepower, and few defenses.
I have only my wits, and skills, against their superior firepower and numbers.

I slide through the depths of space, watching...
waiting...

Silent, but deadly.
They will know the meaning of fear
As they probe for me in futility.
Only to have me strike when they are lax.

I know where they are.
I know how many of them there are.
I know what they fly.

I know my enemy.
The enemy is mine.

The Curse

The sensors immediately began seeking my corp mate's ship as I got clearance to undock in my new Amarrian Force Recon ship, a Curse. The complete ship cost well over 100,000,000 ISK, most families are lucky to make 10,000 ISK in a single standard year, which equates to 10,000 standard years of labor (for them) and a few minutes for me.

That being said, it would be silly to fly this cap draining ship immediately into combat. None of my main line ships have ever been so radically different from my Blasterz n' Dronez approach to PvP. Thus, a corp mate had agreed to do a few test duels with me.

In short, Antigone's Revenge was kitted out as follows:

[Curse, Eater of Capacitors]
Damage Control II
Overdrive Injector System II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Invulnerability Field I
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800
Warp Disruptor II

50W Infectious Power System Malfunction
50W Infectious Power System Malfunction
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction
Improved Cloaking Device II

Core Defence Field Extender I
Core Defence Field Extender I


Hammerhead II x5 [x2]
Warrior II x5 [x2]

As Brick0Joe's Harbinger landed on me, I ordered a long range orbit of 25 Kilometers to minimize his damage while I neuted him.

A few seconds later, I was comfortable orbiting him, taking minimal damage from his lasers while his drones nibbled away at me. I began locking them, only to find out I had a 10 second lock time per drone. Note, drop the cloak, not terribly useful for solo fights.

However, my neuts kept cycling off, as I would continually wander out of their current max range (26 km). In a real fight, I'd have lost point by now, but I'll need to practice staying within certain distances from a moving target, although Recon Ships IV will be done in 2 days, so that should help in gang fights.

As my shields dropped to about 20%, I told Brick that his sole flight of drones were now destroyed, as it would be poor etiquette to actually destroy them in a test fight. By now, my neuts were taking noticeable effect. Brick's lasers had stopped firing, and he had slowed down considerably.

I engaged my MWD and closed into a tight orbit of 500m. I deactivated my 2 medium neuts and began to cycle to two small neuts I'd use to keep him capped out. Suddenly, beams lashed out at my ship, taking a large chunk out of my shields. I immediately reactivated my other two neuts and pushed another 800 charge into the core. This time, I didn't turn off my medium neuts until I was certain he was actually dead in the water.

It wasn't too long before Brick was forced to concede the fight. Although, I've learned a few valuable lessons before I take Antigone's Revenge into a real fight.
1. Drop the cloak, makes it harder to tackle and attack drones.
2. Fit a medium SB, to take/harass out drones.
3. Drope the Overdrive II for a PDU II, the extra grid, cargo for cap charges, shield, cap, and cap recharge are all more usefull than 125m/s.
4. Work on MWD/range micro
5. Guestimate how long each ship class should take to cap out. I put out about -50 cap/sec at range and -32 cap/sec close up, or -82.5 total cap/sec.

Frigates- 1 cycle pretty much
Cruisers- circa 1400 cap = 28 seconds at range, 43 sec close up, 17 sec in omfg mash buttons!
BC's- circa 3000 cap = 60 seconds range, 93 seconds close up, 36 sec in omfgmb!
BS's (probably a bad idea to begin with)- circa 7k cap= 140 sec at range, 218 seconds close up, 84 seconds in omfgmb!

Soon, very soon, Antigone's Revenge will slip out into the dark of space... seeking revenge.

Skills, Gotta Get Them All!

Many people complain about the inherent advantage older players get than newer ones, because there is basically no way for a newer char to get more skill points than an equal char.

Proponents of the current skill system claim (with a good degree of truth) that newer players can become just as proficient as any older player at doing any one thing, but that older players are just proficient at more things.

As I sit here, typing this up, I haven't really played much EvE for the past week or so. This is mainly because I'm waiting for Amarr Cruiser V to finally finish (5 days from now) and let me fly the Curse (Neuting from 30km away? Hell yah)

Currently, there is only one way of 'catching up' with the older players SP wise. That way is by purchasing a character (for a large isk sum) from somebody else made. I don't really like this 'solution', namely because it requires that you literally become an older player. As I sit on 4 billion + isk, I don't really want to buy an Uber PvP char (which probably costs 10b +) because I've invested over a year into Lanissum.

Instead, I'd like to suggest a few alternatives to purchasing an entire new character.
1. Instead of transfering the purchased character, the new character's skills (and assets, etc) are merged with yours, and the new character ceases to exist.

Pros: You get your SP's, they get their ISK, CCP gets more disk space, you don't have to trash your precious main.

Cons: Can't really think of any, although if you change your mind, it's not like you can just resell the char. (Well, you could, but then you'd basically be doing the same thing I'm trying to avoid here)

2. Instead of buying a character, you buy individual skills (pay x isk to finish a currently training skill now). The exchange rate would probably have to make it more expensive than buying a new char (I think that rate is about 200mil ISK/mil SP, so maybe 250m ISK/SP?)

Pros: You get exactly what you want, right now, instant gratification.

Cons: CCP doesn't get their $14 fee (kinda lame, since all they do is a quick database manipulation -_-)

3. Instead of buying a character, you pay to increase your training rate for a certain amount of time (or SP). Similar to the current noob 'x2 training bonus until 1.6 mil SP'

Pros: You get what you want.

Cons: If you just want to finish a skill NOW, too bad. And you better have a plan for all that extra 'bonus training' if you don't want to waste it.


I most prefer #2, although #3 would do in a pinch (namely because it's 'already implemented'). I especially like the idea of being able to actually catch up to older players without becoming one of them.

What do you think?